Dove Pro-Age...Pro-Marketing or Anti-Marketing?

I came across this Dove ad in the Sunday Age Magazine. As much as I like Dove's approach to advertising and beauty, I am in two minds about this ad.

Right off the bat, the Ad gives off the anti-marketing message and feel that Dove Ads have now become famous for. Showing natural, beautiful, "normal", non-traditional models has become a hallmark of Doves "Attainable Beauty" Advertising.

She’s an older woman, beautiful, but with the obvious natural beauty flaws that come with aging. The photo works well with the tagline "too old to be in an anti-aging ad?” Its show natural beauty that doesn't conform to traditional marketing and media views of attractiveness and body image. It fits in great with Dove's Anti-Marketing message.

But then some idiot, some lame copywriter, has ruined the overall feel with the end tagline (below the picture) that reads, "but this isn't anti-aging. this is pro-age. a new range of skin and hair care from dove. beauty has no age limit"

Give me a break! That ruins it. That tagline treats readers like idiots. It comes across as tricky, unauthentic and lame. Don’t' come at me with an anti-marketing message, just so you can slip me the "true" marketing message. This isn't Anti-marketing, Dove. This Pro-Marketing!

Am I overreacting? Perhaps. Does dove care about my views considering that I am pretty certain that I'm not their target market? Absolutely not? Go and and see some of Dove's other Ads (which are generally great) and let me know what you think of this one in comparison?

Some quick ads...

I Just wanted to post some of my fav ads over the past couple of months.
This one is my absolute favorite...The Wind Ad


And there is something about this series from Budweiser that is growing on me. and who said Ads can't be entertaining...

Even channel 10 dont want you to watch ads

During the screening of the movie Kenny this evening on channel 10 a strange thing happened. Just as they went to the break, Kenny pops up in a 10 promo screen and says "its probably a good time to duck out for a quick number 1s, or a really quick number 2s". Being that the movie is about toilets it kinda made for a funny opener to the ad break but I'm interested to know what the advertisers who have paid good money to screen their ads during the break think of it. I'm guessing they would not be overly impressed with channel 10 telling their viewers that they can stop paying attention for the next few minutes..

I'm sure these advertisers are well aware of the fact that during the screening of a movie people will often get up and do something else whilst the ads are on, but to have channel 10 actually promoting it is something I didn't expect.

Liveband.com.au set to increase CD sales..

The record industry have been complaining for years about decreased record sales due to internet piracy all the while doing nothing (other than DRM which didn't work out quite how they had hoped) to try and find a way that both consumers and labels can gain from. Well thanks to an Aussie start up LiveBand.com.au there may be away to alleviate the problem that keeps both parties smiling.

LiveBand essentially goes along to concerts (with the approval of the record company of course), records the show, does some mastering then uploads the tracks to their site for people to purchase online and burn to their own CD. So the consumers gets a copy of that "special" show they went to, the record company gets another income stream and the musician hopefully gets a few bucks from the process too. The biggest positive I can see to this though is from the marketing perspective. I am constantly bailed up by friends telling me about the "awesome show" they went to last week and, like looking though someones holiday snaps, its never quite as exciting for me as it is for them. With a service like this I can actually hear the recording, get a feel for the band and possibly become a convert.

Its a very simple concept and one that I can certainly see taking off once their list of acts starts to build up but I am honestly surprised that the record companies failed to come up with this themselves rather choosing to whine about lost sales every chance they get.

For the love of gmail

I remember when gmail launched a few years ago and people were begging those in the loop for a gmail invite. 3 years on most of us in IT land have a few gmail addresses and despite the occasional spam that gets though the filter its an amazingly good service. So it comes as no suprise that when the folks at google asked people to make a short clip involving the gmail envelope image for the purpose of creating a mashup video they sure came out of the woodwork to help. You can check out the video below (its kinda cool):-



After watching it I found myself wondering why google has so many people so prepared to get involved despite the fact there is no prize or any real recognition for their efforts and I think its actually pretty simple.

Google offer free products (for the most part) and they really do come across as the type of company that will make something cool, give it away and ask for nothing in return. Many of the Web 2.0 companies have cottoned on to this now and it seems to be working. Advertising revenue follows the most visited sites and google realised eirly on that free services are undoubtedly the best way to make this happen. So google keeps giving and users keep loving them for it.

Telstra blocks facebook

So Telstra has got some more headlines in the news this week. It seems the have blocked their employees (all 49,000 of them) from accessing the social networking site facebook. Check the article on techcrunch.

For a company that should be at the cutting edge of technology (and perceived that way by both employees and users) and encouraging consumers to get online, this is a ridiculously short-sighted decision from the management boffins at Telstra.

Telstra (or any company for that matter), aside from the fact that they should be trying to ensure employees are treated respectfully and engaged with, should be encouraging their employees to use the products that the company either sells or actively enables (obviously as a Broadband internet provider this would include all the cool things that one might be able to do and interact with online).

Get you employers immersed in your business, submerged in the industry of you business and in love with what your companies products and services can do to enhance their lives and experiences. Encourage them to experiment, look for insights, build social networks and share ideas. This way not only will your employees be true advocates for your company and brand (imagine an entrenched sales culture at every point of your organisation) but they will constantly be looking for better ways, everyday, to do their job and run your business.

Happy Tuesday - Google Doodle, The Wind and Gizmoz.

I wanted to start the day off on a positive note. So I thought I would bring up a couple of things i think are pretty cool…

1. The 'Doodle 4 Google' competition - Google is asking Australian school kids to come up with a Google doodle for next Australia Day. It is running it as a competition with prizes to the winning school of $10,000 of tech gear.
I like this. It is a very simple way to engage with a particular user segment (schools and kids). It provides the creators with a real benefit (its a design project schools can do, there is a prize and the winning entry will get BIG exposure). Provides a real sense of locality presence (makes Google seem more Australian). Agreed its not revolutionary - but just goes to show that user engagement and UGC can be easily done. Give and thou shalt receive!

2. The Wind Ad. I keep going on about this ad. I am showing work colleagues, friends - even mentioned it in the podcast (which you can check out the second instalment of!). Ad for energy co. in Germany. One awards. It is clever. Expensive idea, inexpensive execution!
3. Gizmoz. Check this site out. Nothing super special here. Just a nice little idea and some good fun to be had.

Now that I have got all that out of my system I can proceed with the rest of the day being cynical, critical and abusive! Hooray!

If you want to hear us go the hack, we lay into Telstra and Diet Coke in Episode 2 of the Gen Y Marketing podcast. What can I say...easy targets I guess!
Cheers, Nat.

NetRegistry end of year sale - A great campaign or a desperate grab for cash?

When I received the following email from the General Manager of Net Registry I wasn't quite sure how to take it..

This has been an exceptional year for NetRegistry. Having surpassed all our financial targets for 2007 I would like to reward both NetRegistry staff for their exceptional performance this year, and also reward our valued customers.

From now until 5pm Friday June 29, I am authorising our sales consultants to accept any reasonable offer for ANY NetRegistry service (except domain names) with all net revenue going directly to NetRegistry staff as a bonus.

As you can imagine they are very excited by this and standing by to take offers. Just call on 1800 78 80 82 and make an offer to secure yourself a great deal to help you grow your business online.

Best Regards,
Larry Bloch
Chief Executive Officer

On one hand I think its a great marketing ploy. If a sales team has indeed exceeded the sales targets for the year then this would be a great way to reward them, and even if they are technically limited to a moderate discount, its still a great way to get customers on the phone talking to their sales staff. On the other hand the sceptic in me wonders if this is the sign of a sinking ship struggling to make targets before end of financial year.

Regardless, an email from the CEO of a company is far more likely to be read than one coming from salesteam@Xcompany, and I applaud them for trying something different.